We are recruiting for a Mission Manager, A Sustainable Future (Wales)

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future.

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation. 

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk. 

Summary

Mission Managers lead on scoping, designing and delivering portfolios of projects, building a pipeline of work and developing collaborations with partners and stakeholders. In this role you will lead multi-disciplinary teams to design, test and scale up ambitious initiatives that can help meet our Sustainable Future mission goals.

As the lead for the Sustainable Future mission in Wales, you will play a critical role in developing and delivering projects in Wales and building stakeholder relationships. You’ll be part of a wider team delivering the Sustainable Future mission, as well as part of our Nesta Cymru team, and you’ll work with colleagues in Cardiff, Edinburgh and London, both on Wales-based projects and on projects in GB more widely. You’ll help ensure Sustainable Future has a strong presence in Wales and that learning from projects in the rest of the UK informs our work in Wales and vice versa. 

This role will suit someone who is curious and excited to get stuck into all aspects of project leadership and delivery - over a given week you might be conducting user research to understand how a service works (or doesn’t), trying to persuade partners to get involved in scaling up an initiative and pitching policy ideas to civil servants on how to increase heat pump uptake. 

In this role you will: 

• Project leadership: Work with the ASF Mission Director and Deputy Directors, as well as Head of Nesta Cymru, to scope new projects for this mission in Wales and set up effective teams to deliver this work. This includes scoping and agreeing the project parameters (e.g. budget, team, deliverables) and building an effective culture for delivering the project (e.g. working cohesively with colleagues based in Cardiff and London). You will identify opportunities, proactively develop a pipeline of partnerships or collaborations, and run complex projects effectively to deliver on time and to high standards. 

• Team management: Provide line management to team members, as well as direction setting for project teams. You’ll be responsible for making sure multidisciplinary project teams can work at their best.

• Domain and context expertise: Bring experience and/or knowledge relevant to the Sustainable Future mission and an understanding of the devolved policy context for the mission in Wales. You will use this to help other team members shape Sustainable Future projects so that they can make an impact in Wales.

• Communications: Communicate confidently and clearly both within the organisation and with partners to drive forward work and influence the wider debate. This will include representing Nesta’s Sustainable Future mission to external audiences. 

• Stakeholder engagement: Own relationships with stakeholders involved in projects and portfolios of work that you lead, and make sure they love working with Nesta.

• Research and analysis: Demonstrate an understanding of different research and analysis methodologies, including assessing the use of different methods, the ability to interpret and evaluate research findings and translating this into actionable next steps.

• Mission strategy: You’ll contribute to strategy development, ensuring your projects meet strategic goals, actively reflecting on what we’re learning from the work you lead, and sharing your views on whether and how we should scale up work, change direction or stop doing things in order to meet our mission goals.

Skills specification

Required 

• Domain experience: At least two years’ experience delivering relevant programmes, projects or research work related to the Sustainable Future mission’s focus. This could include, for example, some knowledge / experience relating to retrofit, energy, low-carbon heating, sustainability and / or decarbonisation more broadly.

• Policy knowledge: A good working knowledge of the devolved policy context in Wales relating to the Sustainable Future mission.

• Project and programme management skills: A proven track record of delivering high impact projects and programmes in a fast-moving and uncertain environment. You can proactively plan work, bring teams together and make the most of their diverse skills, execute against the plan, identify and act on risks and issues, ensure that key stakeholders are engaged throughout, and keep track of spend against budget. You’ll have, or be able to develop, skills in agile project management, and be comfortable re-prioritising and changing direction if needed to make sure projects are as impactful as they can be.

• Stakeholder management skills: you can present ideas persuasively and navigate complex stakeholder discussions to keep focussed on impact, maintain project momentum, build strong working relationships, and drive better work through including more voices in planning, designing, delivery and critique. 

• Research skills: you understand the fundamentals of exploratory research and evaluation. For example, you can interpret research findings, understand common statistics, assess the strength of evidence for something, and understand good practice for key research activities. You have enough knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods to lead teams that include methods experts. You have some experience in, or are willing to learn about methods that Nesta has deep expertise in, including data science, design, behavioural science and evaluation. 

• Partnership building: You are able to proactively develop a pipeline of partnerships or collaborations opportunities in support of this mission.

• Communication: You can communicate ideas clearly in writing and verbally, and you’re able to tailor your messaging for different audiences. You’re a confident public speaker and able to represent Nesta externally, at events and stakeholder meetings. You can facilitate workshops and meetings so that they’re engaging for participants and lead to action.

Desirable 

• Policy expertise and relationships: Experience in shaping policy, from inside or outside government, including in Wales, and relevant contacts in the Welsh Government.

• Technical expertise in one or more of the following areas: behavioural science; design thinking; experimental/quasi-experimental design.

• Growing the reach and impact of products, services and / or policies: experience in taking initiatives to scale, for example by influencing or directly supporting other organisations to take them on or by building teams that can deliver large-scale initiatives themselves.

Language skills: Ability to speak and write in Welsh.

What we offer

Salary band: £56,700 - £70,600 (Band 4) plus array of benefits, including health cash plans, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more. We normally recruit at the lower end of the band. 

Location: This role is based in Cardiff and you would be expected to come to the office at least twice a week. You’ll also need to be available for monthly travel to London to take part in wider team sessions. 

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do. 

Making an application 

To apply for this role, please submit your application before 8:00am on 9 July 2025.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to provide a short video in which they present their response to a question. Successful candidates will be invited to interview the week of 28 July 2025. This interview will be held on Zoom.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. 

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. 

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. 

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.  

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.